It would be straight-up daft (read: irresponsible) not to have a decent plan in place before following through on the decision. And, as it turns out, most of what I’m listing here would benefit from getting done / looked / at / prioritised anyway.

So, here’s what I’m taking action on over the next 30 days in preparation for the social exit.

Fun fact: Squirm-Free School of Business has never had it’s own website. We’ve always cobbled together a collection of various lead and landing pages... which works fine, don’t get me wrong, but our SEO sucks, and we are not very easy to Google or navigate - which is a pretty crappy experience for folks who are finding us for the first time, and an equally frustrating experience for people trying to find what they were looking at earlier.

We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for what feels like forever - what is it about website projects that means they always bloody drag? 😅 - but let’s face it, if you want to get your butt off social, you’d better have a bloody good website.

Progress = 🟠

Can you be a ‘personal brand’ without social media? We’ll find out soon, I s’pose, but I definitely wouldn’t want to try it without a decent personal website in place first.

Having a blog and content space outside of the business brand means I’ve still got a space to offload what’s in my brain, and (hopefully) add some value at the same time. I’m sure this’ll get gradually more ‘profresh’ and fancy over time - or maybe it won’t - again, we’ll see.

But anyhoo - this website will help me keep in touch with the folks I’ve connected with on social - business or otherwise.

Progress = 🟢

Yooo my email list needs a good SCRUB let me tell you. Open rates are good - but they’re not omg-pinching-myself-they’re-so-amazing. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Kajabi mail’s deliverability is... average at best.

I’m tempted to seek out a new email service provider (I know, I know, I should be on Convert Kit, wth am I doing?) but the thought of re-setting up all our automations, welcome sequences etc etc just fills me with so much dread. We’ll see.

Progress = 🔴

Now that we’re only making content ‘roast dinners’ rather than 15-minute meals, I’m going to need a little more time to ‘cook’. The chances of me blogging regularly will be GREATLY increased if I actually have the time.

Progress = 🟠

If I’m being honest, this has been a bit of a mess for a while. Outside of events and promotions where we add hundreds (sometimes thousands) of new email subscribers of the course of a few weeks, there isn’t currently an ultra-steady stream flowing in during the in-between times. Leaky bucket or what?

Progress = 🟠

Once they’re ‘on the list’, ideally I’d like folks to stick around. We have decent sequences for folks who sign up for freebies, events and promotions - but ‘general’ newsletter subscribers aren’t currently getting onboarded with the same care.

Progress = 🟠

Seeing as I’m going to be abandoning these profiles, the least I can do is spruce ‘em up a bit first, eh?

Progress = 🟠

Had a false start with Pinterest a year or so ago - mainly down to lack of clarity, I think. Now I know what we’d be pointing pins towards, I’m confident we can find a great groove on there and establish a groovy traffic source for both sites.

Progress = 🔴

Jury’s still out on this, but I’m considering archiving the vast majority of my social content, and just leaving a handful of (strategic, valuable) posts. What do you think?

Progress = 🟠

Already taken care of. Doesn’t make sense to allow comments and replies when I’m not going to respond to them.

Progress = 🟢

I don’t want folks to be left hanging! Seems only polite to set up an auto-responder, don’t you think?

Progress = 🟠

I’ve been using the “Newsfeed eradicator” Chrome extension for ages. It means I can log in to Facebook to respond to questions in my client community Facebook group, without getting sucked in by whatever dumpster fire is going down on the timeline. I’ll keep this for Facebook, but will use an extension like BlockSite to revoke access to “the others” whilst I break the habit.

Progress = 🟢

It’s been pretty neglected for quite some time, so I think it’s only right I make it “official” and close the doors to the free Squirm-Free Sales Club group - at least in its Facebook form. Rachel Kelly recently closed her free Make Lemonade Facebook group and it’s given me a lot of courage to say “Cheerio” to our 1600 members.

I’d like to move over to another platform in the future - perhaps Slack or Discord - but right now, it’s not the top priority.

Progress = 🔴

So for now, our client community will stay on Facebook. I learned last year how challenging it is to run a community off-app (we tried Circle.so for 3 months - it cost $79/month for a platform no-one used) and it’s important that clients don’t get disrupted by my whims and fancies 😆  This is a decision I won’t rush into.

Progress = 🔴

I don’t plan on an “Irish goodbye”! Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sending lots of emails and DMs so that we don’t get disconnected.

Progress = 🟠

I am SO glad to have this on my list, as our affiliate program has been a hot mess since... always! This one I’m VERY excited about, but this is a big ass project. I continue to feel torn about Kajabi and whether to stick or twist. Any recommendations are very welcome.

Progress = 🔴

Again, it’s been on and off the list for a while. We have a great start on the 🎬  Katy Prince Media Kit but there’s lots that we can add here (testimonials, clips, summaries, contact forms, case studies, more features etc...) to really bring it to life as a lead generating tool.

It’s also be an opportunity to ask former features to update their backlinks to us 🙈

Progress = 🟠

Over the years we’ve tried so many ways of collecting, sorting, filing, naming, and tagging testimonials... and the truth is nothing’s quite stuck. So right now, we have hundred of success stories, screenshots, video snippets and case studies strewn across Notion, various AirTable bases, folders on iPhones, Canva folders, and desktops.

If you asked me to find a particular client’s top 3 wins in their own words... well, I’m embarrassed to say that I couldn’t do it for ya. Not quickly anyway. Talk about an opportunity, eh?!

Progress = 🔴

We have a great list of potential partners and collaborators (and a folder of “yes, we must get that set up!” type emails in our inbox, too) Once I’ve got a better handle on how the next few months are going to pan out, we’ll start getting these booked in.

Progress = 🟠

Archiving off some boards and recurring tasks (and creating some new, more impactful ones) is going to feel sooo satisfying

Progress = 🟠

I like this idea as a way to get in front of other people’s audiences and replacing things like story takeovers or “let’s go live together”s. However, I’m not yet 100% clear on how this will work for me specifically, or how much time and energy it will take. One to come back to.

Progress = 🔴

We did it! After a truly excruciating confirmation process, we’re officially on Google My Business which is gold dust for SEO and... just feels legit, ya-know?

Click on the red location pin to have a snoop at our profile.

Progress = 🟢

It’s been a while since I lived in Bristol, so getting re-connected locally is a must - how can people recommend you or make introductions for you when they haven’t met you yet?

Progress = 🟢

This is a bit more longterm but I would LOVE to find a way to reward our most loyal podcast listeners with some kind of “insiders” club - with extra episodes and a few other perks.

Progress = 🔴

Progress = 🟢

Progress = 🟢

As you can see, this list is very much a “live” document that’s evolving and being updated in real time. The goal is to be “off” altogether by March 31st, but we’ll see how it goes! Wish me luck!